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Eugene Garfield Residency in Science Librarianship -- Librarian A

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries is seeking a dynamic, service-oriented individual to join its Science Libraries team in this two-year, entry level position with a target start date of September 1, 2013. Reporting to the Associate Director, Biomedical Library, the Eugene Garfield Residency will provide a new professional the opportunity to develop as a Science Librarian at a premiere research institution in a supportive environment. The broadest goal of the Residency in Science Librarianship is to encourage the growth and development of underrepresented groups in academic research libraries. The Residency will involve a variety of substantive responsibilities and learning opportunities culminating in a capstone project.

Based in the Biomedical Library, this position will be actively engaged across all six Science Libraries (Biomedical Library, Chemistry Library, Dental Medicine Library, Math/Physics/Astronomy Library, and Veterinary Medicine Library) in research and instruction activities, collection development and liaison responsibilities, and library initiatives in emerging areas, such as biomedical informatics, collaborative research networks, team science, and research data management.

The Science Libraries engage in a wide variety of instruction services ranging from library-sponsored workshops to curriculum-integrated instruction to clinical outreach. Workshops range from introducing key resources and services, search techniques, information management, and productivity tools. Target audiences include faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, researchers, staff and clinicians. Health Sciences Librarians provide course integrated sessions and training within the Schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Nursing, and the Penn Health System focusing on evidence based literature and searching. Within the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Technical Communication Program (TCP) engages undergraduate students in developing a structured and logical exposure to the organization of information resources in the field of engineering and applying it to their work. The Resident is expected to participate in the planning, marketing, delivery and assessment of these programs.

Working closely with colleagues, this position will include collection development and liaison duties based on the needs of the Science Libraries and the interests of the Resident. This will provide the opportunity to interact and respond to the needs of a research, teaching, and clinical community. Collection responsibilities will provide experience in resource selection, budget allocation, and management. The Resident's liaison and outreach role may involve faculty sponsored research projects, systematic reviews of the literature, scholarly output analysis, and the development of guidelines for funder compliance on publication deposit and data management.

The Resident will be encouraged to explore collaborative projects with other departments in the Penn Libraries. Potential departments to collaborate with include, but are not limited to Information Technologies & Digital Development, Information Processing Center, and the Weigle Information Commons. Projects and assignments will be designed with the professional interests of the Resident and the needs of the Science Libraries in mind.

In addition to colleagues within the Science Libraries, the Resident will be encouraged to meet with an established mentor outside of the cluster. The program mentor will provide the Resident with the opportunity to gain perspective, guidance and support outside of their day-to-day activities.

The resident will be supported in professional development activities including conference attendance and training opportunities. As part of their overall professional development, the Resident will conceive and plan a capstone project with their supervisor to be completed during the second year of the program. This project will provide the Resident with a concrete and demonstrable example of their capabilities as a Science Librarian.

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League comprehensive research university in Philadelphia founded in 1740 by Benjamin Franklin and his circle. It comprises twelve schools, 4,200 faculty and an enrollment exceeding 20,000 students, almost equally divided between undergraduate/professional school students.

The Penn Libraries include fifteen libraries and an off-site research annex. System-wide scholarly resources number nearly seven million books, almost 100,000 e-journals, 1,100 databases and more than 1.5M local digital assets. Penn is a leader in the development of digital library services and collections and is aggressively experimenting with and adopting new technology in research and teaching. Penn actively participates in collaborative initiatives including the BorrowDirect and EZ-Borrow resource-sharing networks, the HathiTrust, the Center for Research Libraries, LOCKSS and Portico. As a founding partner of the Kuali Open Library Environment and Global Open Knowledge Base projects, Penn is at the forefront of developing a next-generation community source technology to support academic library operations.

Position Responsibilities Include:

Liaison and Collection Development duties as assigned. Manage the materials budgets for these departments. Make collection access decisions and participate in consortial resource-sharing and document delivery initiatives.

Provide specialized reference and research support to assigned units as well as collaborate in the planning and development of services across the Science Libraries.

Collaborate with colleagues in the Science Libraries in the planning, promotion, implementation and assessment of the user instruction program.

Participate in the maintenance of the Science Libraries' websites including designing tutorials and other resources for user instruction.

Investigate new technologies that may be used to effectively respond to changing information needs (e.g. media services, mobile technology, research metrics and data curation).

Participate in the Penn Libraries Chat Reference Service.

Pursue collaborative opportunities with other Library and University departments.

Participate in library, university and professional activities as appropriate.

Perform other duties and projects as assigned.

Requirements:

Master's Degree from an ALA-accredited information and library science program or equivalent earned by August of 2013 or within past two years.

Interest in Science Librarianship.

Ability to work successfully in a team environment.

Excellent written and oral communication skills.

General knowledge of information literacy and instruction practices.

Experience with relevant print and electronic reference sources.

Willingness to learn and a desire for professional growth.

Preferred:

Academic background in science or related experience in an academic science library.

Experience with course management software and web design software.

Knowledge of current trends and practices in scientific scholarly communication.

Compensation and Benefits: Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. Includes a generous benefits package, additional information available at https://www.hr.upenn.edu/pennbenefits.

To Apply:

Potential candidates are invited to submit a letter of application that addresses the needs and qualifications of the position, along with their resume and the names, addresses, and phone numbers of three references who can address the suitability of the candidate for the position described, as well as complete an on-line employment application at https://jobs.hr.upenn.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=196593